No seacocks on any below water line thru hull is contrary to ACBS code, and an invitation to your boat sinking if a hose springs a leak. Install seacocks, and carry a number of cone shaped plugs in wood in case of any sea cock failure. Check sea cocks yearly for full function.

Cold salt water has some value in keeping rot from advancing. It does not prevent it. The only real biocides are Copper Napthenate, or Copper arsenate. Arsenic is only currently available in commercial use wood preservatives, but it is very effective.

The roof of a vinyl covered Challenger is contructed out of 3/4 plywood and solid mahogany edge profiles. The mahogany is rabbeted to accept the thickness of the plywood. The vinyl cabin topping is put on before the windshield assembly and express roof is attached, so it is one piece on the top of t...

Great work Robert.... stay the course!

Dove is an Atkins Active III dory ketch, built in CT in 1946. She is a little heavy for her size (a lot heavy) but a fun little boat, and she tolerates higher winds with ease.

The Challenger series did use the 36 foot Constellation hull, and it was more spartan in terms of options and finishes to offer a price point. There were three formats, an Express, a Sedan, which had an slightly extended express roof format with doors between the back cockpit and the helm station ar...

I got one, did not get two. No biggy.

Nothing here either... don't really care anyway ...LOL

Sorry bout your heart attack, glad to see you are keeping on... me too, except I had some family issues with aging parents that used up some time. Take it as it comes, do what you can.

Hi Peter. The restoration is going well, but in 2014 I slowed down because I was allowing myself to be overwhelmed with the project scope. Once I decided to remove the bottom and started to actually reassemble the structure of Elude, my spirits picked up. 2015 was a banner year and I made up for ti...

Robert, good to see you again. I am in the same situation.... a number of family issues interrupted my work before I got done, and I am just finishing up Vanora. I hope to be in the water this year, after three years

BTW, if your deck isn't ripped, and just seems very dirty... try Starbrite nonskid deck cleaner. Works beautifully.

John is right. The inner keelson on a Connie is really just a way to tie the boat together at that point. The keelson has a rabbet on each side that allows the garboard plank to be fastened. The screws from the garboard plank are longer on the keelson side, and go into the frame. Then the keel or sk...

Beeswax would be a low mess lubricant... or a very high quality silicone spray.

A few vinyl suppliers make a vinyl "Cabin topping" which is sold a fair number of places. Sadly, it is not as heavy as the old vinyl, but it is essentially the same product. I used it for cabin tops, and I am doing my decks next.

Here is a 1960's cutaway diagram of a constellation hull:

I am intimately familiar with 431 Lincolns, and everything said in the previous post is true. They are pretty tough, but rebuilds are more expensive, marine gaskets are much harder to find. Keep in mind 1600 hours marine use is a LOT of use for a gas engine. Good luck with everything, nice boat.

Matt's right.... the big revolution took place in the late 80's and the 90's. Higher tolerances in engines, combined with higher combustion temperatures, turbos and all that stuff, made old oils do nasty things. Remember the sludging phenomena? That was mostly due to automotive oil not keeping up wi...

I use multigrade oil, but I only use a real synthetic, in this case Amsoil ZRod, which has added zinc for older engines. A multigrade oil uses a viscosity modifier that makes it behave differently at cold temperatures than it's higher number. It helps with cold temperature starting, and certainly th...

No need to steam them.... pour hot water on them and put a block in middle and weights at each end.
Your repair looks familiar.

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Best wishes to him and his family...man, am I ever glad I have universal health care.

The Bay of Quinte is frozen, and it was -10F here for the last couple of days. Not a good time to live aboard.

The old CC oil coolers, and a lot of of the others, have solder joints that hold the cooling tubes inside together. They will occasionally crack from vibration, and yep, the pressure in the transmission is usually higher than the raw water side, so the transmission fluid will go out the exhaust. A r...

I've said this before: The cruisers will by far be the rarest boats in the CC lineup 25 years from now.... They don't have the benefit of being a barn find. They die outside in the weather, and the people who are willing to pony up for the restorations are fewer because of the ongoing storage issues...

There is one for sale on Yachtworld in Cheybogan Mi...... 50 grand. It has 327Q's in it

joanroy wrote:the Fantasy is always more fun than the Reality

Aw c'mon. Who wants to live in reality anyway.

but.... spoken like a true veteran

Factory photo of a corvette.....

Oh definitely worthy of a save..... I would be all over rebuilding those 427's with some modern carburetion, head work, a cam and a balance and blueprint. You could prop that boat up and probably get 40 plus MPH out of her. Yes, the gas mileage would be catastrophic, but all the gas cruisers are at ...

In retrospect, I used the same calculator I use for my own boats :mrgreen: It allows me to keep some semblance of optimism when confronting these tasks. I know all about the too damn old and I already have a boat thing. Yep, this boat would be 30k easy to restore. I think the current owner spent som...

I spoke to the current owner, who does not speak english well. He bought the boat from the original owner, who had it for over 30 years. The boat has not been in the water for ten years, but was in running condition when lifted out. The motors will need to be gone over for sure, and there will be ga...